Last updated April 2026
In another post I made, I told you all about my move from Central Oregon to Washington state. If I could go back and make the same decision of moving to Washington state, would I? Read more to find out!
Table of Contents
Hiking in Washington State
I will admit, we have not yet had the opportunity to hike everywhere in Washington since moving but this will be specific to the Olympia, Washington area.
The hiking trails here pale in comparison to Oregon. The lands are managed by the city which means nearly every trail head has a gate. Usually, the trails are open for specific time frames. This was a major shift to what we were accustomed to in Oregon.
Nothing is more demotivating than planning out a hiking trail, getting packed up, driving out to the location, and then being confronted with a gate saying the trailhead isn’t open yet. Yes, we check AllTrails before hand, but not every trail indicates if there are “open” hours for the trailhead.
Not only that, but we quickly realized how many trails were in fact, not dog friendly. That has also been a bummer.
Fishing
Con. My fiancé has yet to find a public access area to go fishing. Most of the lakes in the area are surrounded by private property. Which means, houses line the lakes. Not only that, but if a lake isn’t lined with houses, it requires a boat to access to properly fish. Of which, we do not own. To say he has been disappointed and heartbroken that the fishing scene isn’t as accessible as in Oregon, is an understatement.
Note: You must have a valid Washington driver’s license for a minimum of 90 days prior to requesting a permit.
Life Events
Now, this post definitely started off on a negative note. Which, I admit but will not shy away from. Mainly due to the fact that despite our countless hours in researching our next location to live, while we were still in Oregon, none of these topics came up and I feel it’s important to include.
Some positives though. This move allowed us to find a rental space that was bigger and offered different amenities, for a cheaper price tag, compared to Central Oregon.
One of these amenitites includes a fenced back yard for a dog we had not had the opportunity to adopt. Yet. One month after moving, once we felt we were settled in, we finally had the chance to start looking at expanding our family.
Expanding Our Family
Pro. Wet Nose Foster Paws is a non-profit with a location in Tacoma. My fiancé had been searching on their Instagram site since before we even moved, at potential pups we might want to meet. The dangerous thing with this is you might get attached to someone before being ready to meet them and then they get to go home with a family. Which is exactly what happened to one of the pups he was looking at.
However, once we finally moved and were settled in, it was time to start looking again. That’s when we found, Tilly (at the time she was named “Blondie”).
This wild child was exactly what we were missing. I’m not ashamed to admit, but I genuinely cried after bringing her home. Both my fiancé and I had grown up with pets, we were around animals most of our lives. In the last 6 years or so, neither one of us had been able to adopt a pet for various circumstances. But the day we brought Tilly home, was like feeling a weight lift. She’s helped make our new space feel even more like home.
Life’s Big “Next Step”
Pro. Now, I’ve mentioned my fiancé a few times so far in this post. However, we were not engaged when we first moved. We had talked about what life would look like together for our future and I knew this was our next step but we wanted to ensure we weren’t making so many big life changing decisions all at once. 6 months after moving, he proposed during our trip to Arizona (which you can read all about it here).
The Food Scene
Con. Again, I have not been impressed. Which is surprising considering the diversity and density of the population compared to Central Oregon. We have yet to find our “go to” spots for food outings.
Final Thoughts
Now, this post, and overall the move, definitely came with a lot of cons. Things that we didn’t realize were important to us when it came to considering a place to live and what we need to feel happy in a space. With these things in mind, no, I would not change my decision to move. Without the move, we wouldn’t have found Tilly and we wouldn’t have learned these aspects of ourselves as individuals and as a couple.
Thanks for reading along on my experiences (so far) with living in Washington! Until next time, adventure awaits!
Is there a topic you want to know more about that I didn’t include? Leave a comment! I plan to update more as we live here longer but this is my experience so far.
